Racebeat
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: Jamie McMurray must have dainty feet. The glass slipper fits quite well. McMurray, making just his second career Winston Cup Series start in the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge substituting for injured Sterling Marlin, won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, making him the quickest winner in NASCAR's modern era. McMurray, who made his Winston Cup debut one week before at Talladega, started fifth and ran in the top 10 for more than half the race. He nabbed the lead for the final time by passing Mark Martin with 30 laps remaining. From there, he rode along quite comfortably until the final lap, when Bobby Labonte pulled up to his right rear quarter panel, only to have the youngster fend him off.

With the win, McMurray becomes the fourth first-time winner this year and just the 11th driver in NASCAR's 54 years to earn a win in either his first or second career start. Kevin Harvick won last season at Atlanta in just his third career Winston Cup start. Though McMurray shocked himself and nearly the en tire NASCAR world, the man he replaced wasn't overly surprised. In two years of Busch Series competition, a span of 64 races, he has never won a race. His best career finish was last month, when he finished second to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Richmond International Raceway. Labonte finished second, followed by championship points leader Tony Stewart in third, Jeff Gordon in fourth and Rusty Wallace in fifth. Labonte's second place finish is his best since winning Martinsville back in April. Labonte had his most potent car since that win, the same ride that won at Charlotte two years ago and had been converted from Pontiac to Chevrolet (for testing purposes) then back to Pontiac. Labonte was the race leader on lap 221 when Ricky Rudd hit the Turn 2 wall to bring out the day's fourth caution. That proved a lucky break for Labonte. When he pitted, his crew noticed a cut left front tire. Jamie McMurray led 96 laps. That wasn't his only tire trouble. According to Labonte, he was forced to pit early again with a cut right front tire. Stewart, meanwhile, came out ahead. He may have had the fastest car late, but upon doing some quick math decided he wasn't quite quick enough to catch McMurray.

That doesn't mean he let up. Stewart now leads Jimmie Johnson by 97 points heading to Martinsville next weekend. McMurray still has four races left in the No. 27 Chevrolet for Busch Series owner Clarence Brewer, including next week's event at Memphis Motorsports Park. He was supposed to skip out on the Cup race at Martinsville, but now he's unsure. McMurray will pilot Chip Ganassi's Havoline Dodge full-time in 2003. When that partnership was announced at Richmond, many were left scratching their heads. Not anymore.

NASCAR Busch Grand National Series: Jeff Burton nearly lapped the entire Busch Series field at Lowe's Motor Speedway, winning the Little Trees 300 by nearly 19 seconds. Burton now has a series leading five victories and eight top-fives in just 12 Busch Series starts, and has finished no worse than third in six straight outings. It couldn't have gone any better Saturday. Burton led a race-high 130 laps and was never threatened after the halfway point. He never dropped outside the top-10 all day long, and come time for the final pit stop on lap 164, Burton entered the pits with a seven-second advantage. It only got better. After that final round of stops, he'd been propelled into an 11-second advantage on second-place Michael Waltrip. From there, he took off, lapping every driver in the 43-car field aside from Waltrip and Joe Nemechek. Hank Parker, Jr. suffered a sprained left shoulder in a multi-car wreck in Saturday's Little Trees 300. Parker was examined in the infield care center, then transported via private vehicle to Carolinas Medical Center for X-rays on his left shoulder. They were negative. Third-place finisher Nemechek cited Burton's downforce advantage -- downforce greatly assists handling characteristics -- as the major determining factor. Burton drives a Ford. Waltrip and Nemechek both use Chevrolets. Points leader Greg Biffle significantly stretched his advantage in the championship battle Saturday, finishing sixth while the rest of the top five experienced trouble. Biffle entered the event with a 127-point advantage over second place Jason Keller. He leaves with a 168-point lead. He finished sixth, a lap down to Roush running mate Burton.